1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to compartmented containers, and more particularly to an inclinable generally trapezoidally-shaped compartmented storage container.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
There are many applications which require the storage of a wide number of items such as granular powders and the like in a single tray or compartmented storage container. Furthermore, in many of these applications, a craftsman or technician is required to repeatedly access and retrieve substances stored within the various compartments of the container. For example, in the art of making dental appliances such as crowns and bridges etc., a large number of dry porcelain powders are available to make a single appliance. Each powder is contained in a compartment formed in the container, and several powders (i.e. compartments) must be accessed and retrieved during the manufacture of a single appliance. It will be appreciated that the faster the access and retrieval time the faster the overall productivity of the craftsman. Therefore, in order to increase productivity the stored substances, i.e. the compartments, must be within convenient reach of the user.
There are several prior art devices disclosed that can be adapted to contain substances such as dry porcelain powders. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,450 (issued to Benetti) discloses a combination display and packaging container which includes a plurality of spaced-apart depressions that can be adapted to hold the powder-like substances. Other devices, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,524 issued to Ackerman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,367 issued to Uslar and U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,790 issued to Wilkinson et al., disclose compartmented trays or containers wherein the compartments may be adapted for storing and dispensing powder-like materials.
Other prior art devices, for example U.S. Pat. No. 2,944,696 issued to Effgen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,368 issued to Knotscher, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,159 issued to Tanaka all disclose trays wherein a powder-like material may be wetted, or, in the case of Effgen (U.S. Pat. No. 2,944,696) an item is immersed in a fluid and the fluid is subsequently drained away. Thus, these devices are not suitable for storing and/or dispensing dry powder-like material.
Although the prior art discloses compartmented storage containers, there are numerous shortcomings associated width these disclosed containers that makes them unsuitable for manufacturing applications demanding quick access to large numbers of powder-like substances, i.e. large numbers of storage compartments.
For example, all of the containers or trays disclosed above are generally rectangular in shape, i.e. opposing sides of the trays are equal in length and disposed in parallel spaced-apart relationship to one another. When large numbers of substances, i.e. compartments, must be accessed, a single rectangularly-shaped container must be large enough to accommodate all the stored substances. Thus, some compartments of the container will be inconvenient and difficult to reach, and the productivity of the user will consequently be reduced. As an alternative, a plurality of compartmented rectangularly-shaped containers could be used. However, because of their rectangular shape, the plurality of containers cannot be arranged in a convenient and efficient configuration around a centrally disposed user. As with the single container situation, the user will not have quick and equal access to all compartments of every storage container.
Furthermore, the storage containers disclosed in the prior art are disposed in a flat or non-inclined manner atop the top surface of a work table. It will be appreciated that if the storage container includes a large number of storage compartments then some compartments will be relatively farther away from the user than other compartments. In a large system having a large number of compartments, the productivity of the user will be severely reduced if equal access to all compartments of all storage containers is not provided.
Thus, there is a need to provide a compartmented container for containing substances that does not possess the shortcomings of the containers used in the prior art.